Many
foods and pharmaceuticals are not normally subject to tensile forces in
their manufacture and consumption. There are, however, exceptions, e.g.
dough, gels, spaghetti and adhesives. These tests can also be performed on materials from which elongated test specimens can be cut and gripped within the clamps of the Texture Analyser to be stretched. This could include fruit, vegetables and meat. In any case this type of test yields reliable results for tensile modulus, yield stress and strain, strength and strain to fracture, and, if the crack area can be measured, the fracture toughness of the material.
